Hyundai has been selling the Genesis sedan (what we know as the G80) in the United Kingdom since 2015 and has recently been axed. The reason? Hyundai only sold 50 Genesis sedans - not 500, but just 50.

"The Genesis was never built for the European market, it was conceived for the Korean and American markets. It shows a saloon car with a 3.8-litre engine is not really what is demanded in Europe, and in particular in the UK," said Hyundai UK managing director Tony Whitehorn to Autocar.

"We brought it in as much just to sample it: lots of people told us they’d driven a Genesis in America and liked it. It was also available in Australia and had done well there, so it was engineered in right-hand-drive. So we thought fine, let’s trial it and see how it goes."

At the moment, it is unclear if and when Hyundai will launch the Genesis brand but current thinking has it further out than the original 2018 launch it had planned. If Hyundai decides to send Genesis into the U.K., the upcoming SUV will likely be the launch model.

Source: Autocar

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That is pathetic sales total.   I think this car is too big more most Europeans.  And it would need a 2 liter turbo hybrid engine to likely have any chance.  But really it is too big, to a lot of Europeans a 3-series is a mid-size car, and this thing is a foot longer than a 3-series.

i drove one of these once and man was i unimpressed.  Its lack of sales may be partially due to it just being less than amazing.

Ah well.  Big cars made for the US market are not really meant for European roads made over 2000 years ago and Europeans do not exactly like cars this size.  It's like putting a Chrysler 300 or Dodge Challenger over there.  50 sales is no surprise since it is not meant for over there.  If Hyundai wants to succeed in the UK or Europe more generally, they should send the Accent or the Tucson there instead.  Almost anything the size of a Mini Cooper would be wildly more successful there than any Genesis.

3 minutes ago, riviera74 said:

  If Hyundai wants to succeed in the UK or Europe more generally, they should send the Accent or the Tucson there instead.   

They've had small Hyundais in Europe for decades...different naming scheme there, though... models have alphanumeric names beginning with 'i'.   The SUVs have the same names, though.  As far as larger cars in Europe, the only ones that still sell are the premium brands--Jaguar, the German 3, etc... mass market 'big' cars mostly died out there years ago. 

Edited July 12, 20177 yr by Cubical-aka-Moltar

Big cars are just not going to work....